In general, a foamed member is punched out in a required shape so as to correspond to the shape of a member to be used or processing for pressure-sensitive adhesiveness is applied on the surface of the foamed member in order to facilitate fixing thereof to the above member. However, since the foamed member to which such processing is applied is difficult to handle, a carrier tape is used in some cases in order to efficiently convey the member to a predetermined site. Namely, a foamed member is subjected to various kinds of processing such as punching and processing for pressure-sensitive adhesiveness and, after processing, is conveyed in a state where it is attached to a carrier tape. On the other hand, after processing, the foamed member is necessarily peeled from the carrier tape but the foamed member is sometimes broken at peeling when the strength of the surface of the foamed member is low (weak). Particularly, in the case of a foamed member having a high expansion ratio [e.g., a thermoplastic resin foam formed through a step of impregnating a high-pressure inert gas (e.g., carbon dioxide in a supercritical state or the like) into a thermoplastic resin and subsequently reducing pressure], the breakage at peeling was remarkable since thickness of cell wall is thin.
Incidentally, it is known to provide a resin layer on the surface of a foam for enhancing adhesiveness and sealing ability of the foam. For example, for the purpose of enhancing the sealing ability (reinforcement of the foamed layer and conveyance with a carrier tape are not considered), there has been proposed a foam having a soft coating film softer than a rubber foam provided on either of upper and lower surfaces of the rubber foam having both of independent cells and continuous cells (see Patent Document 1). Moreover, there has been proposed a foam excellent in toughness, scratch resistance, abrasion resistance, and the like, which is formed by forming a layer composed of a urethane-based thermoplastic polymer composition on the surface of a polyolefin-based resin foam and applying a surface-treating layer composed of a polar polymer on the above layer (see Patent Document 2). Furthermore, there has been also proposed a foam whose surface is treated with a polypropylene-based adhesive composition (see Patent Document 3), a foam having a layer easily soluble in water (polyvinyl alcohol layer or the like) provided on the surface of the foam (see Patent Document 4), and the like.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-9-131822
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2003-136647
Patent Document 3: JP-A-5-24143
Patent Document 4: JP-A-10-37328